#aer chapter 4

[amnesia-er]

Law and Disorder Episode 4

[ Trial 4 Recap ]

[amnesia-er]

Fairytale Ending

There isn’t much left to say. After giving her last gift, Nijino returns to her own area and smiles gently, just awaiting her fate. Seemingly, with no regrets. The vengeful chain rips out into the scene like it always has and drags her away. 

CULPRIT: NIJINO TAKAJO, SHSL CONFIDANT.  [♫♫]

The surrounding area she’s dragged to looks... rather elegant. Beautiful, even. Rugs decorate the floors and everything’s crystal white, a perfect castle. In front of her is a phone; a familiar phone. This would be... the King’s Phone. The sticker on it matches her pendant. This must be the Confidant’s weapon. She reaches for it and turns it on only to be bombarded with messages and yet, most of them say the same thing.

[YASU SHIMAMOTO:] Save me

[CHUICHI GENDA:] Help

[RYOTA MIZUSHIMA:] i d ont want to die

[FELIX KRIER:] Someone please...

[KIMIKO GENKAKU:] I’m still okay

As messages pop up, she becomes aware of her changing surroundings. Cardboard cut-outs of those she used to know spring up. And as she approaches they each meet familiar grisly fates. Genda’s cut-out is dragged away by bent neck. Ryota’s fizzles and explodes, fragments cutting her face and slicing her legs. Felix’s cut-out gets stabbed... and the damage to Kimiko’s is astounding. She’s close to reaching Kimiko, her fingers just barely touching the surface before it meets the fate of the others. The message here is quite clear.

There is nothing you can do.

As she looks on in horror, her phone continues to vibrate and buzz with life. She gives it her attention and it’s more of the same though this time it’s caked in even more hopelessness.

[HIBIKI INORI:] you’ll never fin d me in time

[HIRO MORIKAWA:] It ‘s too late

[SHIWA HIRAYAMA:] its over now

[KATASHI MIYASHITA:] Don’t let them take me

The cut-outs spring up once more. The smart thing to do is to ignore them but she can’t. Even if she knows exactly what’s going to happen, she has to at least try. Running from place to place, room to room in this mansion. Each of them crumple up, explode and fall to pieces in front of her. She’s always so close to reaching them, often getting hurt in the process but no matter what they always go. It’s always the same.

[NIKI IKUTANO:] YOU KILLED ME

The next cut-out appears right in front of her, at the bottom of the stairs. Charging for it with the pitiful remains of her stamina, suddenly she finds she can’t move. There’s tar all over the stairs. Just like one of your favourite fairytales, right? Right in front of her eyes, Niki meets the fate of the others, slowly tipping over and then disintegrating into dust. Another person appears but this time, they don’t appear to be a cut-out... or if they are, they’re very realistic. Nijino’s heart drops. It’s him.

“Azuma-sensei...”

He’s holding an apple and somehow she has a bad feeling. It appears to leak something black-ish. He brings it closer to his mouth.

“Yasushi--!!! No!”

She’s not quite sure if the tar fades or if she manages to break free but she feels the wind against her face as she jumps from the stairs in desperation. He can’t eat that. He’ll die. Anything but that. Please, God.

Clattering down every step painfully, bruising and cutting on the edges, her eyes are wide in fear. As long as she can stop him, it doesn’t matter. If she can save this one life, it’ll mean something. When she hits the floor she immediately tries to get to her feet. As soon as she does, in one consistent motion she dives out at the man in an attempt to take the apple. It all happens so quickly. He’s just a cardboard cut-out like the rest of them and as she clatters into it, the thing breaks, splintering only dropping the very real apple, still leaking darkness. She stares down at it and notices a number on it ticking down. 5 seconds to go. A sigh.

And in the distance the cardboard of the aforementioned ‘Yasushi Azuma’ pops up again, this time with another, a woman. They look happy. Her eyes look into the distance and she realizes now it really is all over. In the end, it didn’t matter; her efforts never had. She looks down at the apple once more. 2 seconds left. Tears pour down, mixing together with drops of blood.

“I love you...”

0 seconds left.

With one last click, she shuts her eyes and the camera blacks out as an explosion can be heard.

[amnesia-er]

Still shaken from..well, everything, Izo takes a long pause before formulating what to exactly do. Midou appeared to be very much not-alive, but it would not hurt to check. He bent down and held one of her hands. With his other hand he took the vial of familiar liquid just in case he needed to act quickly.

There’s no pulse. Izo’s seen enough bodies to know.

She’s probably been dead a few hours... it’s a horrifying thought to think that maybe just maybe if they’d been sooner... more attentive... they could’ve saved her life.

Izo takes the familiar vial.

Natsuki Midou will not need it anymore...

[amnesia-er]

G O N E G I R L

After the shock of a body falling down wears off, it’s Izo Omori who steps towards the woman, each step careful. On her lapel is an ID... Midou Natsuki. According to her ID, she works here...

Midou... Natsuki... why is that familiar?

Or should it be, worked here? Flipping her over reveals heavy damage to her stomach and head. The worst part is... this body looks recent. But if none of you did it, who could’ve?

In one pocket, she has a small vial of liquid... familiar liquid, actually. It reminds you of the stuff that came from the Wine Room... one supposes that means you can at least get a bit healed up...

[amnesia-er]

Confused, Atsuko tries 008-4-14,

… Nothing happens.

How strange. Something must be wrong.

[amnesia-er]

Atsuko slowly types in the numbers 8-4-14

... Nothing happens.

How strange. Something must be wrong.

[amnesia-er]

Sachi starts crying again, stop it. She makes everyone have a buddy system across while holding hands and finally, the end.

Their hands together, their hearts united, the remaining students stride forward with determination, led by Sachi herself. One by one, they file into the room and as they enter the last room they feel like years have passed them by in this hellish landscape... but it’s over. It’s over now...

Right?

[amnesia-er]

Atsuko puts the other card in the slot in white room beep bop

Atsuko heads to the White Room right behind the taller girl and puts her own card in the opposite slot, taking care to not step too far ahead. It enters with a smooth click and one side of the room lights up, even darker than before…

A black colour.

As soon as it does, the floor panels all flip around wildly at a dizzying rate until they all fall down... all but a vertical straight line to the last room. The end point.